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Text: John 17:20-26
Date: Easter VII + 5/16/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

At the end of His speaking in the Upper Room on that Thursday night of Holy Week, the night in which He was betrayed, our Lord Jesus Christ prayed. St. John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, accurately recorded that prayer, for Jesus certainly meant it to be overheard by His disciples. He prayed for His own successful finish of His redeeming work, namely His vicarious, atoning suffering and death on the cross for the sin of all mankind. Then He prayed for His disciples that were with Him that they would be kept in faith and unity. Finally, we heard today the last part of the prayer where He prays also for us, for “those who will believe in me through their word,” that is, the Apostles’ witness and teaching. The overall theme of His prayer is the unity of His disciples as defined by nothing less than the very unity and oneness of God. Far from being just a nice extra to be added after the really important stuff of the faith, this unity itself is the evidence that the Gospel is secured in the hearts of the faithful. Continue reading “"…and for the unity of all let us pray to the Lord."”

Text: John 17:20-26
Date: Easter VII + 5/16/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

At the end of His speaking in the Upper Room on that Thursday night of Holy Week, the night in which He was betrayed, our Lord Jesus Christ prayed. St. John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, accurately recorded that prayer, for Jesus certainly meant it to be overheard by His disciples. He prayed for His own successful finish of His redeeming work, namely His vicarious, atoning suffering and death on the cross for the sin of all mankind. Then He prayed for His disciples that were with Him that they would be kept in faith and unity. Finally, we heard today the last part of the prayer where He prays also for us, for “those who will believe in me through their word,” that is, the Apostles’ witness and teaching. The overall theme of His prayer is the unity of His disciples as defined by nothing less than the very unity and oneness of God. Far from being just a nice extra to be added after the really important stuff of the faith, this unity itself is the evidence that the Gospel is secured in the hearts of the faithful. Continue reading “"…and for the unity of all let us pray to the Lord."”

Text: John 16:23-33
Date: Easter VI + 5/9/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

Thanks to Jesus’ own promise the Holy Spirit accurately brought to St. John’s remembrance as he penned his Gospel all that Jesus had said on that night in which He was betrayed. Today we hear the concluding words from the upper room as Jesus summarizes His mission and reassures His disciples of God’s continuing love. “No longer will I speak to you in figures of speech but will speak plainly” He says even as they still have a lot to learn and to understand. As with us and every person, the clear, plain speaking of the Gospel is the avenue or the means through which the Holy Spirit brings about conversion, repentance and faith in a person making him or her a disciple of Jesus, a son or daughter of God, a member of the household of God. Continue reading “Plain Speaking”

Text: John 16:12-22
Date: Easter V + 5/2/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

The scripture readings for this Fifth Sunday of Easter have us looking both forward and back. The reading from Revelation is obviously a glimpse of what is yet to be, the new heaven and the new earth of eternal life. Indeed, today’s Gospel has Jesus speaking in future terms. But it is important to remember that these words were spoken at the Last Supper of Thursday of Holy Week, before His death and resurrection. He said that there were things that His disciples “could not bear,” that is, understand right then and He promised them the Spirit of truth and that their sorrow would turn to joy in “a little while.” While we can apply these words to our need for understanding and spiritual growth and our experiences of sorrow as we await our Lord’s second, final, triumphant coming on the day of judgment, our first consideration must be to understand what He meant originally on that night. Today with resurrection eyes, knowing that the crucifixion led to the empty tomb of His rising again, we can go back to recall and to understand now what we couldn’t understand before. In doing so we hope to discover and understand the True Joy of being His disciples. Continue reading “True Joy”

Text: John 10:22-30
Date: Easter IV + St. Mark, Evangelist + 4/25/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

Someone once pictured the great multitude of St. John’s vision standing before the throne of God in heaven from a unique point of view. It was the view from behind the great multitude and all you can see is the back of their heads as their attention is on the throne of Christ. Can you tell who is sitting in front of you from seeing just the back of their head? A friend remembered that his parents would always sit in the back of church “so that,” they said, “they could see who was there.” Well, again, that’s fine, if you can recognize someone from the back of their head! Continue reading “The Lamb Is the Shepherd”

Text: John 20:19-31
Date: Easter II + 4/11/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

When our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to His disciples on that first Easter evening, He could have, maybe even should have, reprimanded them for their unbelief, their disloyalty, their fear and failure; and even more so when He appeared the next Sunday to doubting, unbelieving Thomas. But what were His words of resurrection greeting? “Peace be with you.” A common enough greeting of the day, some would be tempted to translate it, “Howdy” or “Good Day” or (as too many say today) “Ha’ya’doin’?” But the risen Lord’s greeting was not meant to be a “common enough” greeting. Those who attempt to clothe peoples’ encounter with Christ in worship today as being as common and comfortable as your own living room are further away, not the closer to the dynamic, inspiring, faith-instilling Gospel greeting of Jesus that first Easter Day. For “Peace be with you” is the first word and the last word. The peace He wishes He actually brings and bestows just by saying it, though this peace is not just a wish or a word but a completed accomplishment and gift of the God who not only created all things but has more gloriously restored all things and won us back from the tyranny of sin, death and the devil. Our Lord’s innocent, humble, vicarious suffering and death, and His mighty, glorious, incomparable, astounding awakening from the cold, dead tomb, has changed everything; it has changed the entire history of the world and its destiny. And it will change even your history and destiny when the mighty word of the Gospel is grasped by your heart: “Peace Be With You.” Continue reading “Peace Be With You”

Text: Luke 24:1-12
Date: Resurrection / Easter Day + 4/4/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

There was a time when people actually believed that the world was flat and that the sun and the stars all revolved around the earth. It only made sense according to our perception, our limited perspective. Of course, science has proven beyond a doubt that the world is an orb and that the changing alignment of sun and stars in the sky is a much more complicated issue as the earth revolves around the sun. On the one hand are the facts and on the other is our ability to perceive, to know and to agree with or believe the facts. Continue reading “Easter Facts and Easter Faith”